Katie Strong
Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics (FSEEE)

This past summer, I had the opportunity to work for Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics (FSEEE). I worked under FSEEE staff attorney, Marc Fink, in Duluth, MN helping with a variety of projects relating to the managment of our national forests. One of my major projects dealt with the 2005 National Forest Management Act Regulations. The new regulations try to "categorically exclude" forest plans from NEPA analysis and the consultation requirements of the ESA. While a coalition of environmental groups are currently litigating these regulations on the national level, the first forest plans to be promulgated under the new regulations came out earlier this year. Much of my work involved commenting on these plans to preserve FSEEE's standing to sue if the Forest Service chooses to ignore the requirements of NEPA and the ESA in promulgating these forest plans without conducting any environmental analysis. Of course, my work went far beyond this--I had a wide array of projects while working for FSEEE. Overall, the best part of the entire experience was working under the guidance of such an experienced and knowledgable attorney in the environmental field.